At the sound of her scream, Cassandra paled and dropped everything.

in seconds her dingy slides were in her hands and she was sprinting at speeds she didn't think herself possible.

"Shana!"

——

Angela studied the camp store wearily.

It looked pretty drab, but that's not really why they were here. All the girls that came with Mr.Trysander had shot up with excitement as soon as the entered the store front

"I got bars here! Finally!"

"I'm gonna text my boyfriend, he's probably so worried about me being all alone here surrounded by a bunch of hot guys." This was Asia, her skin was a deep chestnut with long jet black hair.

She was gorgeous, with a perfect complexion.

Probably genetics, Angela thought.

Asia was smart and annoyingly analytical at times. At first she thought it was ironic when looking at her name but then she had heard Bridget say her name out loud and realized it was pronounced A-zee-Ah instead of Asia, like the country.

Speaking of Bridget….

Angela had begun to scan around for the girl and found that her biggest competitor was not present at the store, she didn't remember seeing her at camp before she left either.

"Where's Bridget?" She asked Asia, the girl was taking Snapchat pictures to take and show her boyfriend and her family. She seen Angela address her and pulled her in for a picture

Angela, the diva she is, did her fiercest pose. She would never say no to looking hot in other people's snaps.

"Ohh cute." She said wearing the dog filter and sticking their tongues out to cue the effect.

"Send that to me 'Asie'"

Asia didn't exactly like the nickname "Asie." But it wasn't something unoriginal to come up with. There had been several people calling her that. She couldn't help that her name had three syllables. But whenever anyone would call her by it, she would be moody for the next couple of days.

But this was Angela, one of the hottest girls on campus, as well as herself and a few others of course. Like her best friend Bridget.

Oh yeah, Angie asked her a question.

"Huh, where is Bridget?" She pauses for a second, looking around.

'I don't know, you stupid bimbo,why do you think I asked?' her internal mind screamed.

'Breathe, Angela. Calm'

"Yeah," her outside voice spoke now, smiling brightly as if she didn't mentally curse the poor girl out for the mild inconvenience. "I haven't seen her since we all left on our art assignments earlier."

"oh that's right," Asia agreed, "she was paired with that hottie Christian Buyers! No wonder she's not back yet, they're probably out somewhere, making out."

Asia laughed but Angela had gone quiet.

Because her mind was now spreading wildfire through the rest of her senses.

Christian Buyers, her Christian (not officially, she wouldn't officially claim him until he was truly head over heels for her.) out with that hussy Bridget Weber?

—

The professor could almost see steam coming out of the girl's head from across the store. That Angela was always so sassy about everything, but she did decent work and got good grades, what else could anyone ask for from his students?

He had more important things to do now that the students were situated with their phones and browsing the shop for souvenirs and trinkets. When the students got into a rhythm, Mr.Trysander had marched up to the front of the store where a blonde haired, green eyed kid in his late 20's stood behind the counter. His face was red, blotchy, and covered in pimples. The professor (who was young once too) tried not to focus too hard on the bulging zit on the kids forehead.

If his wife was here, she'd surely try to jump over the counter and try to help the poor man 'pop' it.

Frankly, you're not supposed to do that.

popping pimples, but also jumping over the counter to attack some poor hormonal kid's face.

"Is there any way possible that you could get me in touch with camp security? I need to report a missing person on the trails."

"uhhh" The kid started out, scratching the side of his face as he seemed to turn around and look at nothing. (At least from what the professor could tell.)

"Well sir uh….." The professor watched as patiently as he could as the blonde boy scratched his neck, and then his stubbled beard.

"yes?" He bit his lip and inhaled deeply through his nostrils.

'Come on boy, spit it out for god's sake!' is what he wanted to say. But he couldn't panic. He was the adult here.

well, the most adult adult here, aside from Enrique, who was still twice his junior.

"It's very urgent." He pleaded with the boy.

"Well you see sir, I don't know how to tell you this but our main radio went down a couple of hours ago. It's kind of hard to reach camp security without the main radios, or call for local authorities if anything were to happen."

Mr.Trysander was silent. Why hadn't they sent word to campers about information like this? If he had known then surely he wouldn't have allowed his students to step foot outside the camp unchaperoned—of course they were adults now—but they were still his students.

He recalled the look of desperation on Shana's face. He could be wrong about this, but he was under the impression that Shana was Cassandra's only friend here. He didn't know about outside school or really even outside his classroom. But he did know that the girl seemed to light up when around her and be silent anytime else.

he had looked at the boy now, really looking at him.

The kid seemed sad, maybe even a little tired.

How long had he been here?

"I could try local radio and see if anyone answers..no body did though when it came to shift change. I guess all hands on deck with whatever's going on there. But i hope they wrap it up soon, I've been here for 8 hours."

"Is someone supposed to come and relieve you of your post?"

"they were. Though, if it's Darren, he could have given me the slip again…"

"Could you try local radio?'

the boy hesitantly went over to his radio and picked up the receiver "This is the Outback Camp Shack north of Campsite 1A, i need to get ahold of camp security, is anyone there, over?'

There was a rough static on the other end and the boy turned it down just a tad.

"See sir, I told—"

"This is camp security, come in, over."

The boy almost jumped in place and stared dumbfounded at the radio before pulling himself together and answering.

"O-oh, we need to report a missing person out on the trails."

There was a pause. Mr.trysander had turned around and noticed some of the students had stopped what they were doing to look at him and the boy behind the counter. Even though a lot of the students didn't know the girl personally they still looked somewhat worried. It made him feel a little better.

"Can you give a name and a brief description?" The man said over the coms. The boy realized he forgot to say "over" but so did the other guy so he disregarded it entirely. Now that he thought about it not many of the tower radio people did either.

the boy shrugged and handed the receiver over to the professor. "You talk with this button right here."

"Hello," Trysander started, "We're from Camp 1A on a college felid trip, and were missing a student on the trails. Her name is Cassandra Faust, she is about 5'2 or 3, she has light brown skin, and long, dark brown hair. She was last seen wearing really bright clothes uh…last thing she was wearing was a bright blue hoodie and...flip flops? Also she's an art student so if you see her she will probably have her art bag with her, a big clear bag, has art books and sketchbooks in it. She was last seen going up the trails towards route 307"

"Brown girl, brown hair, bright clothes, art student. I'm guessing her eye color is also brown?"

"That's right."

"Okay, we'll keep a look out for a girl matching that description."

The boy had taken back the receiver from the professor.

"Do you know if a replacement is coming down to relieve my post anytime soon? I've been here for 2 hours past my clock-out time!"

the radio had shot back into static and the kid slammed it into its holster, fuming in 'underpaid overworked employee.'

This kid could easily be one of his students. He knew most of them worked, even little Cassandra. There were times she'd come to class smelling like chicken and waffles having come from work right before class.

It was annoying sometimes because it always made him hungry.

He always wanted to go and try the diner out. Cassandra had really sold him on it before.

Maybe one day he'd take the wife and kids down to try it out.

"Thank you, I'm sure they'll send someone soon to relieve you of your post."

"They better or they can kiss my ass goodbye after this season."

Mr.Trysander then backed away and let the students go up to purchase their items.

At least now he had some assurance that camp security would be looking for Cassandra to help bring her back.

———

Quinn had looked over to Patrick from his bunk across from him, his partner had been Michelle Byrne and they went across the stream to draw some up close drawings of bushes by the stream. He was finishing up some last minute details with the aid of the picture he took on his phone. He watched Patrick do the same, except he saw Patrick pull up the image from google.

Him and Michelle got back just in time to see the fiasco between the two girls screaming at Patrick toward the trails. From what he overheard, he had left that little girl at the top of the mountain all by himself and didn't even bother to look for her.

"Where's Cassandra?"

Patrick heard him but pretended not to at first, luckily he still had his AirPods in, so he could sell it.

But Quinn wouldn't give up so easily. He stuck his leg out towards Patrick to get his attention and now he had no choice but to look.

"What?"

"You leave that girl all alone at the top of the mountain?"

Patrick scowled.

"I let her go up ahead of me, but when I tried to catch up to her I was sent down by these men in suits. I guess they're supposed to be camp security on steroids. They wouldn't let me go up for her and made me come back down, they said they'd look for her."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"I don't care what you believe." He watched as Pat sucked his teeth in and turned over on the cot, irritated. "That's what happened."

"Then if that's the case then why were those girls going A-wall on you?"

"Dude I don't know, girl code or something like that."

Before Quinn could answer, Eric came bursting into the cabin with a growl and grumble. Throwing his art bag over his cot, the items inside outside were disorganized and hung out of their respective containers and boxes, making a clattering sound not very pleasant to the ears.

"The nerve of those old ass men to tell me where to do MY project?"

Patrick perked up. Had Eric also been turned away by the Men in Black?

Behind him, Jordan followed behind Eric with his own art bag in tow. Resuming a conversation the rest of the cabin was just now made aware of.

Quinn looked wearily at Eric, who plopped down on his bunk and continued talking to Jordan. They had clearly been friends for a long time, though he didn't understand why Jordan would hang around a loser like Eric. But Eric had also mentioned strange men on the trails.

Maybe Patrick was telling the truth. Or maybe they were all in on some sick joke.

——-

Outside the cabins, some of the students gathered on benches, feasting on hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, paper plates, condiments, and napkins took up one entire table. On the side was a small cooler with small, kiddie sized Shasta beverages in variety crammed in with full sized water bottles.

Professor Aldirez stood at the grill, cooking up what they had. Tonight it would be burgers and dogs, tomorrow for lunch, professor Trysander had an idea to set up a sandwich shop where students would build their own sandwiches with various ingredients. He hoped he had enough of everything for that to go smoothly,

Some of these kids (adult kids, of course) Ate like velociraptors.

Eric had three hotdogs and Jordan had two hamburgers and a hotdog, chips included.

It reminded him of Scooby and Shaggy. It made him wonder if some people should be held back from the sandwich station until the regular people get what they'd like.

Some people just eat a lot, others don't.

As long as Eric doesn't hog up all the bologna like he did on last year's trip, lunch tomorrow should go relatively smoothly.

The professor looked forward to next year's beach trip already, technically this year was supposed to be beach themed but there were no openings for the hotels they wanted. Unfortunately a popular band was playing in town around the same time and prices skyrocketed out of budget.

There was also a safety concern with keeping track of all the students while the surging crowds swelled up the streets. Mrs.Watson was going to attend on the trip but she was too preoccupied with her daughter's pregnancy, with the baby due any day she didn't want to risk going out of town and potentially missing her daughters big day. So now they were down a supervising teacher this year.

With only Himself and Mr.Trysander it would be hard to look after everyone in a way where they can all go do what they want in the city. Here though, it was quiet. the camps were well separated. The security was supposed to be very good. There were several radio towers that could contact help if anything went wrong. It was the safest thing for them, much safer than a crowded city.

But wasn't sure how long he could take these mosquitoes.

They had one more full day here. The morning after, they'd be packing up the buses once they got here and hightailing it back to the school where they had met up when they first boarded.

Eventually anyone here who hadn't eaten slowly crept up to grab a burger or hotdog. Even Patrick, who sheepishly grabbed his food and walked back into his cabin.

'Poor Kid' he thought. Hopefully he puts his partner's safety in mind for the next partner he chooses. Maybe they should have just made it so that they had free range with who they grouped up with, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Professor Trysander was worried though, thinking some of the students are too 'cliquey' with each other and wouldn't take work as seriously if paired together.

Maybe he'd talk to the older professor about it for the next assignment tomorrow.

"These Hotdogs are really good, Mr. Aldirez, have you been cooking for a long time?" Two students, Michelle and Laura had taken a seat on the bench closest to the grill, watching the young student professor get to work on making hot dogs and hamburgers.

Laura, a student outside of Mr.Trysanders class, huffed and rolled her eyes.

"They're just Hotdogs, Michelle.."

Michelle scoffed at the girl. Of course a student from a different art class would try to cockblock her from the hot professor. To make it worse, Laura took it one step further.

"Do you have any kids, Mr.Aldirez?"

"Not yet, Laura, but me and the wife have been trying now for about a year. Hopefully soon we can start a family."

Michelle seemed to recoil in disgust.

it was bad enough he was telling them that he had a wife. But now he specifically let them all on to the fact that he was attempting procreation, with said wife.

It was as if he looked over to the girls and explained thoroughly in great detail how he put his hotdog in Mrs.Aldirez's buns and then proceeded to put ketchup and mustard all over it. Letting them relish in that moment.

Suddenly Michelle had lost her appetite and put down the half eaten dog onto her paper plate.

Laura had almost laughed before nudging the girl and asking. "So where's that hunk Patrick at?'

"you mean the guy that ditched his partner and left her at the top of the hiking trails to fend for herself?'

Laura flinched. Of course it would sound bad when she put it that way.

Now it seemed that Michelle regained interest in her hot dog, taking another bite. Victory tasted smoked and savory.

"Patrick said it's not like that, the girl went ahead of him and camp security wouldn't let him go up to get her, he's not a bad guy."

Michelle eyed Laura warily, and wondered if she should have pulled some strings to get Patrick, instead of Quinn. To get Quinn as a partner, Michelle had traded slips with Bridget so that she could make her move on Cristian Buyers. She had gotten Quinn in exchange. Quinn, unfortunately, turned out to be painstakingly boring and maybe even a little cocky. She traded because she thought Quinn was her type. But when she tried to talk to him during their hike and even while they were drawing, she couldn't get through to him about anything. As soon as they reached their drawing spot he hunkered down, put his headphones on and all but died for the next four hours. Not even for pausing for small talk. Not even talking to her at all.

Now apparently Bridget had gotten lucky and Laura, despite Patrick's apparent abandonment, was still interested.

She could see why. Patrick was tall, sporty looking and pretty. Maybe if she was his partner Cassandra would have never gotten left. Or maybe she'd just be lost in her place. Even still that might not stop Laura from trying anyway. Unless…

"Even if that is true, he already has a crush on someone." This, to her knowledge, was a lie, but she had to get back at Laura for busting her chops in front of hot—and unfortunately, married and procreating—Mr.Aldirez

"What? But who?'"

"Guess."

———-

At the sound of the girl's scream, Cassandra had dropped everything and ran as fast as she could toward where she had last heard the girl. Only her dirty stained socks hit the ground as she darted across the trees, the blue slides tightly in her hand.

mysterious god or deity or government experiment.

it could not have her friend.

"Shana!"

The girl jumped into the clearing amd grabbed the blonde girl by her shoulders.

the girl turned and screamed which in turn caused cassandra also to scream and back up.

It was her. Shana is still in one piece.

"oh my god cassandra, I've been looking all over for you!"

her friend was alive and okay.

"what happened?" Cass asked, almost sidetracked . "Why did you scream?"

"huh? Oh, sorry. A bug ran across my shoe. Hey, where's your art stuff?"

Cassandra's face was an amalgamation of emotions that slowly settled into dumbfoundedness.

It was a false alarm. Shana was safe.

"I dropped it…I dropped it so I could get to you faster."

"But what about your project? You need it for a grade."

"I thought…."

'I thought you were going to die'

"Something weird is going on here, grab your artbag and I'll tell you about it on the way down.

the girl kicked her slides back on and nodded. Running back to grab her bag.

'That's what I was going to say…'

with her bag in hand, she and shana began to make their way back down the mountain.

"So you went off trail?' That's probably why the men couldn't find you.

"You mean there were people looking for me?'

"no,'' Shana had now taken to walking off trail as well to avoid confrontation with this so-called' camp security' "not you specifically, but they've been sending down any campers they found. I don't know why. That's why Patrick wasn't able to make it up to where you were."

"So you're saying he didn't purposefully abandon me?' Her voice was low now as they walked, cautious from shana's story.

"I feel soooo much better now'

"yeah, no. He's still an asshole. When he came down without you i didn't know what to think.even Angela seemed worried for you…"

"Angela? I don't believe it, she's just nosy."

"no she was… I think." she tried to recall Angela's reaction. She was worried wasn't she?

"okay… so, what are these men in black looking motherfuckers?"

"I guess they're like camp security but….i don't know Cass. Something feels off."

Cass walked along the side of the trails by Shana.

first that creature.. Now some strange men and black?

could her theory of him being a government experiment gone loose be true?

He didn't look like something our government could have cooked up though. He just looked too….advanced.

she would believe it more if someone told her he was an ancient god taking back his home or something.

Hell even if someone said it was a ghost she'd believe it.

"were only here for one more day. If we stay out of their way, I'm sure we won't come up missing or something."

Shana looked unnerved, stepping over roots sticking up from the dirt. "Do you think they'd do that'

"If they're bad people doing bad things,I can't imagine what they wouldn't do."

"Well, we don't know that they are bad for sure, maybe they're trying to protect us from something."

"something like what?"

Her mind flashed with the memories of the creature. Its glowing amber eye, its enormous stature.

We're they trying to protect us from him?

Shana didn't answer. How could she? She wasn't around to see what Cassandra had seen and heard what she had. Not only was there a creature somewhere in this forest.

there was something even scarier that made even go away.

"How did the teachers handle the men in black story from Patrick?" She asked

Shana shook her head "they didn't buy it, thought he was just trying to cover his ass."

"I can't blame them for that. If I were them I wouldn't believe them either. So what do we do?'

"Unfortunately, I don't think there's a lot we can do. Even if they suddenly believe us, the buses won't be back till Saturday. Just hope tomorrow goes by fast and then go the fuck home as soon as morning hits. Can't be too hard right?'

Cassandra nodded. Although to her it might be hard. She would have to tell Shana about the encounter soon, though she didn't know how she would explain it to her right now. She needed time to think and really sit in her thoughts about it before she could put what happened into words. Maybe if she didn't have to, this would be a lot easier.

The day was almost over now. They'd just have to survive one more night before they could go home and never see this place again. And they could both pretend that this stupid trip ever even happened. Cass would go back home and binge watch Season one and two of 'Stranger Things' with Inessa with tons of Sweets, popcorn and ungodly amounts of soda.

But she didn't think she could ever forget the eyes that burned into her mind.

golden amber with flecks of brown.

She also couldn't imagine that tomorrow would be magically less strange than today turned out to be.

————

The students had made it back into camp at the same time Shana and Cassandra had. As the students poured into the camp the two girls walked into the other side of the clearing toward the camp. Immediately one of the students pointed it out to professor Trysander and he began to make his way over to the two girls.

Cassandra had supposed she should be looking sad and defeated, exhausted and abandoned. It probably would make sense and be believable if she were crying right now. She was supposed to be abandoned by Patrick and left alone all the way away from camp.

but she couldn't feel anything really, her mind was too busy.

She settled for putting her head down slightly and giving in to the tiredness that had built up from the original hike up, and doubled down on the way down. Instinctually, Shana put her arm around her.

This made more sense. This looked believable. Like a girl lost in the woods and not one that had a staring contest with an 8 foot tall monster man that may or may not be a government experiment.

the men in black, the creature. We're they connected somehow? She had to find a way to tell Shana about it, in private. Creepy men were one thing, but an inhuman creature, a ghost, a god? That would be a lot harder to convince.

but Shana would believe her, she saw the men in black first hand. And she knew Cassandra was indeed an eccentric person, but was not a liar.

she just needed to find a way to show her in a way that makes sense.

"Cassandra!" The professor dashed over, getting winded quite fast. (He wasn't getting any younger after all.) "Are you alright? What happened?'

from the crowd of students she found one head taller than the rest, trying hard to be unseen. She made no hesitation in pointing him out.

Sorry Patrick, not sorry.

"That fucker left me to get lost on the trails!"

————-

The sky had finally darkened to a deep purple black. Some students gathered around a fire, roasting marshmallows and left over hotdogs. Cassandra craved the heat, she missed campfires a lot when she went camping with her family a long while back.

but she didn't want people asking her questions. It bugged her. The same people laughing at her were suddenly concerned and wanted to ask what happened and if she was okay. After eating some leftover burger with Shana she went into her cabin for the rest of the night.

Shana followed her in. It was clear though that Shana wanted to go out and hang out with everyone too.

"I think I saw a seat open next to Christian." She had said, chewing slowly on a Red vine

"are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?'

"I'm fine, just promise me if they make us pick partners again, you pull a Bridget and swap for me."

Shana shook her head. "I can't believe she would do something like that. Honestly I wish i thought of it myself"

"and leave me all alone with Angela?"

"i don't think she's that bad, i know she's a little stuck up but….i dont know, i wasn't kidding when she seemed to actually care."

"Hm, I'll believe that when I see it."

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Shana, go have fun. I'm just gonna relax for a bit."

"Okay, I will. Love you."

Cassandra laughed and laid back on the cot.

"Love you too, try not to get cooties."

And Shana left to join the group of students.

Now alone Cassandra could think and think hard. How is she going to make sense of this enough to tell Shana, enough to believe it herself that she wasn't hallucinating?

Then an idea struck her and she pulled out her sketchbook.

Not the large sketch pad, nor her old one. She opened the new one and on the very first page, she had gone to work sketching all the details she could remember of the creature, the monster…

The ancient god with piercing amber eyes.

It was like the pencil was moving on its own now. She had zoned out, focusing on only the memories and putting them down on top of the pages. As soon as a sketch was finished, the page would turn and she'd start on another one.

It wasn't until the students began piling into their respective cabins to sleep that she realized that she had been drawing for hours, snapping out of a trance when the cabin door opened and students and the girls had poured in for the night. At first she wondered if she should pretend to be asleep, but decided against it.

But she closed the sketchbook and slipped it on the side of the cot.

Shana behind Bridget walked in and greeted her as she made her way back to the cot.

"Patrick got chewed out pretty bad, we didn't see him outside."

"That's what he gets for being an ass. He should get a zero on the whole project." Bridget chimed in.

"Is there anymore Shasta Ginger Ale out there?"

Bridget tilted her head as she climbed up to her top bunk and pulled out her "Fifty Shades Darker" novel, skimming till she got a page with a bookmark in its place.

"There might be some, obviously there's more in the pack but those are for tomorrow, you're gonna have to go look and see what's left in the cooler."

"Okay that's fine, I had to go to the bathroom anyway." Cassandra sat up and out of the cot and noticed Shana looking at her, worry ridden on her face.

"Do you want me to go with you?" She stood up out of her cot.

"No no it's okay, I can find it, unless you need to go too?"

"No, I went earlier. Are you sure you're okay going alone?"

Cassandra nodded. "As long as nobody's having sex in the woods we don't have to worry about any killers at camp."

"I don't know." Bridget said from her bunk "you never know what could happen, adults at camp, you know?"

"Well for the sake of the rules of all horror movies I hope they keep it in their pants."

"Who knows" shana chuckles "You could get a mysterious call while in the bathroom, someone asking you 'what's your favorite scary movie?'"

"Shut it Sharkie, I'm not going to pee paranoid of killers and call boys."

Shana laughed and sat back down. "Scream if you see any killers on the loose."

Cassandra smiled and rolled her eyes, stepping out of the cabin.

But then she paused.

There actually is a fucking monster in the woods

She saw it with her own two eyes.

But it wouldn't come down here, would it?

She could see no reason why

And even if it decided to go on a killing spree there were 3 or four other campsites here right?

What would be the odds of that same monster-creature-god-man-thing

Following her all the way down here to this camp…

And killing everyone.

Shana's spooky stories were nothing to the paranoia growing in her head right now.

She practically ran to the bathrooms as if impending doom had been right on her heels.

The fire had gone low, but was still ongoing. As she walked over to the bench to raid the cooler she noticed that there was one person left sitting by the fire.

Illuminated by embers was Patrick. His head hung low like a hurt puppy.

Something in her heart stirred.

Her one weakness.

Outwardly sad and or crying men.

She sighed and grabbed the first thing she could find in the cooler. Not a ginger ale unfortunately but a Shasta Twist, their iteration on a lemon-lime soda beverage.

She sat down on the other side of the fire.

He looked up and almost looked afraid somehow.

"Don't worry," she started "I'm not here to chew you out—even though I could."

"I've been chewed out enough already." He looked up at the beverage in her hand and over to the cooler.

She tossed it over to him. And got up to grab another one.

He got startled as she walked away, thinking she was leaving.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out. "I really am."

She paused for a moment and then continued to grab a new drink from the cooler, this time a Shasta Root beer.

She shoved it back into the cooler and reached for something else.

A Shasta Cola.

it would do.

She turned back around to look at Patrick, and walked back over to the fire to sit. Across from him.

"I really was going to go up with you—"

"I know." She said, popping the tab on the small can with a hiss. "Shana told me."

He opened his own at the same time as hers.

"then why did you-"

"Because, Patrick. None of that would have happened if you didn't stop to talk to a bunch of girls instead of following through with your project."

"i fully intended—"

"You left me, Patrick. You left me to go all the way up there by myself. You needed to be held accountable for that."

Patrick sucked his teeth and traced his fingers around the can.

"So what did they say, Patrick?" Inquiring about the professors decided fate for the boy.

'What didn't they say?' He spat.

"Are they going to fail your first project?'

"you would like that, wouldn't you?'

"no," she said, sipping her cola. "I wouldn't."

"I got points deducted, but they said that since other people also claimed to be sent down, like Eric and Jordan and Bridget and Christian, that they wouldn't fail me."

so Yummy boy buyers got escorted off the trails too? This was news to her. Multiple people saw the creepy men. But have any of them seen….?

'Did you see anything else..coming down from the trails?'

He looked up from his drink cautiously and into her eyes, lit by the small flames that still ate at the fire wood.

"Like what….?" His tone was more quiet, serious.

Patrick was so tall that she didn't notice that his eyes were blue. Usually, she never bothered to look that high.

She found them pretty in that moment,

but nothing in this world could hold a candle to the eyes that had stared her down.

Piercing amber with flecks of brown and gold.

She looked away from him and into the fire, it didn't stop her from thinking about the creature.

"It's nothing. I just thought I saw something. It could be just paranoia."

At that moment she wanted to tell him, but didnt know how or if he'd even believe her if she did.

"maybe," he said, "I wouldn't be surprised with the amount of weird vibes around here."

That gave her hope. She would use the sketches to tell shana. Then once Shana was on board, maybe,

just maybe, she would show Patrick too.

"So do you still hate me?' He asked after downing his tiny soda. "No," She had sipped her cola slowly and sighed. "I don't."

He nodded and tossed the can into the fire.

'Asshole.' Lit up in bright neon letters in her mind.

"That don't go there." She eyed the can sitting in the embers, bright green surrounded by burning black.

he blinked and stared at it, as if just realizing what he did. He shrugged and turned away.

"I'll get it tomorrow." He said, and began to stalk back to the cabins.

"just get it with a stick or so—"

"goodnight."

he slinked into the darkness like an SCP and (presumably) slipped back into whatever cabin he came from.

"Asshole." She sighed and grabbed a twig, finagling the can away from the embers and tossing it into the recycling can with her own before heading back to her cabin.

she didn't change her mind in wanting to tell him though.

First thing in the morning she would pull shana to the side and show her what she's seen. Then sometime later, she'd tell Patrick too.

back in the cabin she pulled the sketchbook out of the crack of the cot's bunk and slipped it into her artbag. The lights were out now so despite her inspiration to draw creature-god-monster man some more she'd have to just work with the sketches she made so far to show shana. Everyone in the cabin seemed to be sleeping or laying down now in the dark, with the exception of Bridget who, from underneath her pink strawberry blanket, a flashlight was dimly pointed at a book from underneath it.

It was time for her to get some rest too.

She wanted to set an alarm tomorrow. She had made sure to turn it off to conserve battery. She might need it again tomorrow to take pictures and use it as a reference for the next project if something drastic happens to the scenery. But it shouldn't cost too much battery to idle until it was time for her alarm to go off.

She stuck her arm inside her bag feeling towards the bottom for her cellphone.

she felt hard for the rectangle shaped item.

Pencil case? No. Charcoal pencil case? No prismacolor pencils box? No, and far too heavy.

She pulled the bag over to face her and grabbed her flashlight to shine into the bag.

She moved around the same items and flipped over her sketchbooks and sketch pad to check the other side of the bag.

nothing. The black iPhone 7 was nowhere in sight.

she didn't take it out of the bag when she got back to camp.

That could only mean that she left it up on the trails somewhere where the shady 'Camp Security" loomed. Or, she lost it off trail with the creature and something else more sinister lurked.

She furrowed her brows.

She had had tha phone for years, all her pictures and passwords were on that phone.

All the pictures from the trip would be lost if she didn't find it somehow.

But was all that worth being potentially smoked by creepy men in suites?

No, No I wasn't.

It was in her best interest to consider it gone, she was due for an update anyways.

Cassandra sighed, pulling the new sketchbook out and laying back on the cot. She flipped through the pages of what she had done so far.

There was a feeling growing in her chest.

There was something about this creature that was so…beautiful.

Its face, eyes, body (what little she had seen from it) was like a living work of art.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if…she seen it again.

The book slipped out of her hand and landed right on her face.

'What the hell am I thinking?? I can't go back up there!!'

That thing could have killed her. She felt like it should have. Just because it didn't this time doesn't mean that it wouldn't kill her is she ran into it again.

she couldn't stop thinking about him.

'oh god it was 'him' now instead of 'creature-man-thing' ???'

She was going crazy.

'Snap out of it Cassandra' she slapped her hands on her face.

she could not, would not, under any circumstances, see that thing.

she picked the sketchbook up again , the flash lighting shining on a sketch of just its eyes.

so beautiful…

she was just stressing herself out now at this point.

His eyes were much better in person. She was sure if she seen him again, shed know how to capture them better.

but this would suffice. It had to.

its not safe to poke around. Shana, Patrick and even Eric and Bridget had seen or been sent down by this new creepy camp security.

earlier they were joking about being in a horror film.

but the last thing she should do— the mistake all damsels made before being stabbed in the back, slaughtered, drowned and potentially mauled— is investigate.

Or just by existing—if you were a black guy.

Was she melanated enough for that to count?

She closed the book. She was just making herself more paranoid by the minute.

these sketches would have to do, because she couldn't go back up there.

tomorrow she would trade any slip pushed at her so she could get Shana as a partner, they woud go down by the stream, get bit by mosquitoes and draw fucking sticks by the water.

By the camp, where it's safe.

At least she hoped so…

This night was just getting better and better.

They only had one full day left here. She only had to survive one more day.

and then she would be home, and it would be like none of this never happened.

she would keep the sketches maybe are more

and try to pretend its reference model wasn't a real life living monster.

that she was becoming more obsessed with by the minute.