Monster from My Past
Millie O'Shea was going through the woods of Camp Wawanakwa, running and shaking her hands and arms. Millie was happily humming while stimming as she spun around, but right when she turned around, she bumped right into another one of her fellow campers, Julia. Julia was on her phone, so she couldn't see that Millie was coming her way. Millie shook her head to get her bearings back, and when she looked over at Julia, she almost jumped when the dirty blonde influencer had a furious glare on her face. Millie's heart stopped when she saw that glare. It looked very familiar to her, like something that she should know, but the aspiring journalist couldn't quite place where she knew that glare from.
However, a second later, Julia's face turned into one of confusion and concern before she extended a helping hand, which Millie accepted with a smile on her face. Maybe she was just seeing things when it came to that glare on Julia's face.
"Thanks, Julia, and good morning," Millie said with a smile on her face as Julia let her go once the aspiring journalist stood back on her feet.
"Anytime. Now, what were you doing here in the woods?" Julia asked, not even taking her eyes away from her phone while Millie dusted herself off. Millie, not exactly being known for her social skills, didn't hear the tone in Julia's voice that would have told anyone else that she didn't care about what Millie was doing in the woods.
"Oh, my Mama said that I should have a stim break every once in a while, so before the day starts, I go around and stim so that I can focus on the challenges more. I've done it before I go to school too, and it really helps," Millie explained with a smile on her face while bouncing up and down in place. Julia didn't really seem to care, but put on a small smile, and patted Millie on the head a few times before turning to walk away.
"That's nice. Well, I'll see you around, Mildred," Julia offhandedly responded. Millie, upon hearing that name, immediately stood up straight, a look of horror replaced the content smile on her face. Julia looked back at Millie, and raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior, turning around and
"What…what did you just call me?" Millie asked in fear. Julia realized that some of the gears were turning in Millie's brain, and she mumbled out her signature phrase for discontent, 'Farts', before turning back around, putting a fake smile on her face in an attempt to try and get the shaking Millie to calm down.
"I…called you…Millie?" Julia nervously responded with a smile, attempting to back away, but Millie shook her head and continued talking. All the memories were coming back to her now; middle school, all the wedgies, pushing into lockers, knocking over of books, spilling drinks over her, pantsing her in front of the school, and so much more that it began to create a collage in her brain. Millie now realized why she had that hint of familiarity whenever she looked at the dirty blonde influencer, and it was a horrible realization.
"No…you called me Mildred. I only know one person who's called me that," Millie responded before swallowing and backing away from Julia. "J…Julia? Julia…Eckert?" Millie asked though the aspiring journalist was so scared that the question came out as more of a squeak. Julia looked at Millie for a moment before looking around, and realizing that the cameras hadn't been turned on for the day yet. When she realized that, Julia put her hands on her hips and smirked before stomping over to the fearful Millie. Millie backed herself into a tree while Julia stood in front of her and pushed her hand into the tree next to Millie's head.
"I was wondering how long it was going to take until you recognized me, Mildred. It's been a while since we've seen each other," Julia said, her voice full of too much honey to calm Millie down. "What's wrong, Mildred? You don't look too happy to see me," Julia said, her mouth contorting to an overblown frown, sarcastically drying her eyes before chuckling as Millie shook with fear when Julia looked right into Millie's brown eyes.
"What…what're you doing here?"
"What, you thought I'd ignore the chance to win a million dollars?"
"But…I thought you were a successful influencer?"
"Oh, I am, but you can never have enough money," Julia said before patting Millie's cheek. Millie tried to get away from her former bully before Julia harshly pinched Millie's cheek, pulling her back in front of the tree. "Listen, Mildred. I better not hear a WORD of our little conversation here. I don't need everyone else knowing my real self just so my chances of making it to the finale can disintegrate in front of my eyes. So you better keep this to yourself Mildred because if I do hear about this from ANYONE…well, you remember what happened to Tony Petacino?" Julia asked with a glare on her face. Millie had been rendered so scared by the venom lacing Julia's voice that she could do nothing but nod as her mind raced to what had happened to one of her former peers in Tony after Julia had ruined his reputation across the middle school both attended.
"Well, that's going to be NOTHING compared to what I do to you. Are we clear?" Julia asked. Millie nodded once again, but the dirty blonde influencer glared at Millie's silent response and slapped her in the face hard enough to send Millie holding her burning cheek in pain.
"I said DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?" Julia growled at Millie. Millie fought tears in her eyes before taking a couple of deep breaths to find her voice.
"…y…yes," was all Millie could muster out, putting her hands over her eyes to try and hide from the demon from her past in front of her. Millie tried her best to hold her tears back as Julia responded with a nod before patting the aspiring journalist on the head again, walking away with a confident strut. Millie, once she was sure that Julia was gone, took her hands off of her face, and finally let herself cry. Millie couldn't believe this; her middle school bully, the girl who had made middle school so miserable for her was here on an island where she didn't have her parents to comfort and help her. Millie's hands began shaking in front of her chest as the realization of the situation slowly dawned on her.
The only friend she had on this island was Priya, and she was scared that if she told Priya, Julia would hurt not only her but her new friend as well. Millie also wanted to warn people about Julia since they didn't know what she truly was capable of, but Julia would have her head if she did. Millie didn't know what she could do other than keep crying. Maybe if she could let out all the tears before the game, she could hide how scared she was of Julia, and protect Priya and the others from her wrath. Millie knew that Julia was truly capable of when she was angry, and didn't want anyone else to become her victim. After a few more minutes of crying, Millie took a couple of deep breaths, stood back up, and walked back to her cabin while her hands continued to shake in front of her chest. All she had to do was just pretend everything was OK, and everyone would be safe.
Millie could do that, right?