Chapter one: Hackett's Quarry Forever!
Camp was finally over. It had flew by so fast. It was hard to believe it was over. Back to boring, normal life, until they all went off to college. Going back to regular life paled in comparison to going back to the real world.
While being a camp counselor instead of a camper, it was work and fun at the same time.
You are responsible for managing a group and getting them to places on time. You deal with disputes, lunches, sick kids, bored kids, overexcited kids. Scared kids, thanks to Ryan's ghost stories.
Dylan was a bit of an agnostic when it came to those type of things. There were things that could not be explained, though on the other hand he believed in science. Even science couldn't explain everything. Besides him, maybe Ryan was excited going back to school. It was college. But still school.
Ryan, the boy he had had a crush on but had barley noticed him. Kaitlyn also had a crush on him. He had deemed her a worthy adversary. He sensed she had had feelings for Jacob at one point but it hadn't been mutual, and was a tad bit jealous of Jacob and Emma. She wasn't very vocal about it. At last broken hearts were a part of summer camp. A summer fling would have taken his mind off things. Not the same.
Dylan had come back to camp as a counselor for a different reason this year, than the year before last.
The reason why he hadn't come back to camp last year was because his mom had been sick. He didn't tell anyone that she had died that very same year she had been diagnosed. Not even Mr. H.
He didn't want anyone to pity him, especially the super hot sailing instructor, whom he totally didn't try to steal a glimpse of shirtless while he was teaching classes.
Nick had given him hell about it, when he teased that Nick waking up early to watch Abi's art classes, was a red flag and creepy.
"Like you don't totally do that with Ryan's sailing classes? Ooh, and he blushes..."
"Totally wasn't hiding that."
"It's totally cool, man. We're cool."
No one was uncomfortable with his openly gayness, unlike at home. Everyone here accepted it. Nick was the first one to outwardly speak of it here at camp. He even grew a bit close to Nick. Except when Jacob was around, Nick seemed to take every opportunity to hang with him instead. Especially when it came to sports.
He tried to be cool, laid back, blase Dylan to get people to like him. With everyone else it had worked. But not Jacob, the typical stereotypical jock, douche-bag. Totally insecure, probably as much as Dylan was. Probably had some abandonment issues. Everyone here at came had their own issues to deal with.
The kids now were now departing, they would soon get on with their own lives.
Emma, Jacob and Kaitlyn were seeing them off. He couldn't see Ryan from up here in the lodge.
Hacketts Quarry Car Park -Jacob
"You know how many kids' hearts are broken on the last day of summer camp?" Kaitlyn asked him. "It's like a mini romanti-pocalpyse."
Jacob knew what she was doing. She was trying to get him to open up and confess about Emma already but he wasn't about to take the bait.
You never know. The universe has a kind of way of, er, working things out."
"The universe?"
"Yeah, like the er, the cosmic, space...Gods."
"Space Gods?" Jacob had always been a bit of a nerd, growing up. They had watched every Star Wars movie, though Kaitlyn had been bored to tears. While she forced him to watch horror movies, to which he'd cower under the blankets. He still did. Even on shark week. His defense,
"They have very sharp teeth, man"
What you did for friendship. But she didn't remember him being this much of a nerd. He'd get along with Dylan if he didn't have the need to act so tough. Like right now. Denying what he felt for Emma was nothing.
"You heard me."
Kaitlyn tipped her head in disbelief. "Ok. Spill it."
"Nothing to spill, you know, we're cool."
"Cool?"
"Super cool."
"So she dumped your ass, huh?"
"Quit it." He whispered as they headed toward the van, Emma walking passed.
"Hey Emma." Kaitlyn called out to her.
"Hey!"
Don't rub it in. Jacob thought. You've been my best friend since third grade and you're like my sister. Even though he was an only child.
As they approached the van, he noticed a few empty spaces. He remembered it being jam packed at the start of camp. No way they were close to ready.
He considered himself a bit of a perfectionist. You had to be if you were in sports. Especially on the swim team. He'd practice in the early hours of the morning before breakfast, before camp was in session, just as he would if he were at home.
"Okay, this is um...you've heard of spacial awareness right?"
"Spatial awareness is for nerds. Be a lamb and grab the last bags will ya?" She had to always rub that in too.
"Yes, boss."
"Say hit to Emma for me."
"You're a bad person."
"Yes, I am."
Before walking up the stairs to the lodge, he stopped at the information sign. It showed the map of the camp and the camp slogan.
"What doesn't kill you, will make you stronger. " He reads aloud. "Not in the mood sign." He didn't need to be reminded of his failures.
He made his way up the stairs. He knocked on the door.
Dylan opened the door, Nick standing behind him.
"Hey, are you guys gonna help with the bags or what?"
"Oh, um, you know I was actually just working on fixing the door." Dylan spoke, "It's...it's broken." He slowly begins to shut it.
"C'mon, Dylan. Dylan please. I've got to get the last bags in there, c'mon." He wanted to get out of this backwoods dump, and for it to be nothing but a distant memory.
As the door shuts and Jacob could still hear Dylan,
"What's wrong with this thing, it's just closing. It's closed."
"Sorry bro." Called Nick.
"Cool. Thanks guys." He tried opening it. "Dick, fucking bolted it? " As if he needed another reason to hate Dylan. It had nothing to do with him being gay. He just didn't like him.
"Guess I have to find another way in."
Lodge -Nick
Nick was ready to go. He just needed to few more things to get done. Before he could ask for Dylan's help, he was starting to walk away towards the other end of the lodge.
"Hey, aren't you gonna help with the bags?" Nick points to them.
"Jacob can get them. I'm gonna go take a shit."
"TMI, bro."
"Just wait for the phones, like Mr H said, ok?"
"Like Mr H said for you to wait for the phones." Nick said to no one as he heard the bathroom door close. He sighed and sat down on the stairs.
Ironic Dylan's last name meant lazy. Nick had even teased him about it, when it had been nearly a month and Dylan still hadn't unpacked anything.
"Dude, you still haven't unpacked?"
"There's only two months...Correction, one month left."
"Did you know that your last name means..."
"Yeah, I know what it means. It means lazy. Ha. ha. It's Czech. My great grandmother was Czech. She spoke Yiddish. And no I'm not going to attempt to speak it."
Nick's father's family was Filipino and his mother's was Australian.
"When I was 13, I about butchered the torah at my barmitzah. The Rabbi stared at me like he was going to burst into flames."
"I didn't know you were Jewish."
"I'm not...not practicing anyway." Dylan had clarified. "My family only went along with it out of respect for my grandmother. Because you know, she lost most of her family in the holocaust"
"That's pretty dark, bro. " Nick preferred Dylan's snarky inappropriate innuendo type jokes than his dark humor. Dude's really been through shit. Nick could tell.
"Hey, I can make that joke. You should have seen my dad's face though. And he isn't even religious." But his mother was. Nick's family was catholic. They sort of bonded over that as well. And he knew that Dylan was allergic to nuts. Nick made sure that no nuts were in or touching his food when he prepared the meals for the campers and counselors. Nick wanted to go to culinary school and not into professional baseball like his father wanted him to. His family was big on the whole American dream thing.
Whenever Nick tried to ask Dylan more about his parents, more specifically his father, he became closed off again.
Nick realized he knew him and didn't know him at the same time.
And yet they knew more about each other than they did their not so secret crushes, even if their said crushes didn't notice.
"I heard I'm also Sicilian too. Language of love and all that."
"I thought that was French."
"Any language can be the language of love."
"You should use that one on Ryan."
"Maybe I will. "
"Hey, you know you can talk to me. You don't need to impress me, mate or make jokes all the time. Or hide things. You know? I said we're cool."
"Like you do with Jacob. Try to impress him I mean. And tell him everything, and totally ignore me anytime he's in the room?"
"No." Nick gave him a look that said, that's too far. "You know that's not...I know Jacob doesn't like you and I didn't want to put you in an awkward situation, so...sorry?"
"No. I'm sorry. I didn't mean...Yeah. I...know. Sorry. "
"No worries, mate." He really worried about him sometimes. Like now. He was taking so long in the bathroom. "Oh, my god. What is taking his so long?"
Lodge -Outside -Jacob
Jacob found his way around the wrap around porch, trying the far window. It opened with ease. It lead into the camp's library/reading room. More like a cramped closet.
He came to the bookshelf, where a book rested flat on the shelf.
"Ugh, horror. I hate horror." Thanks, Kaitlyn.
He proceeded to the lodge's dining area to the second set of stairs near the front door. He grabbed the bags, unbolted the door and made his way back down to Kaitlyn and the van.
"Ok. Got the bags."
"All by yourself?"
"Uh huh." Thanks to Nick and Dylan's help.
"Guess you got to get used to that."
"you are so mean."
"At least I'm honest."
"Oh, ok, here we go."
"You're not telling the whole truth about Emma, are you son?"
"Oh, ok, so now I'm the one who's not telling the whole story, huh?"
"Oh, well this the bait I just gotta take, Jake. Ooh, sorry I just got so distracted by that rhyme. I forgot what we were..."
"Oh no, no, no, no." She wasn't getting out of this. It was only fair. "Uh you were telling me, how you totally have a thing for Ryan."
"Wait, are we talking about Ryan, the sailing instructor with a sexy brooding loner thing that totally doesn't do anything for me at all? So, she really dumped your ass huh?"
"Ok, her whole thing is like, how are we gonna make this work, different schools, blah, blah, blah. My whole thing is like, you know, maybe long distance, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she was just like, Jacob..."
"She gave you the look, didn't she?"
"Yeah, do not pass go."
"Man, she's got you wrapped all the way around that dainty little finger of her, how does she do it?"
"Ok. Ok, you know what? Maybe...Maybe she does have like this superpower over me. But you know what? Maybe I like it."
"Oh, likes it. Check. Totally not in denial, check."
"Oh, okay wow. The um..the fumes of jealousy are just stiffing over here."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm just sayin. I guess some girls don't have what it takes to hang with the big dog."
"You're a real charmer, you know that?"
"That's right. I could charm the pants off a snake."
"That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"No. Nope. I've said dumber."
"Yep."
"Not going to miss you Kaitlyn. Are we sure this old rust bucket is road worthy?"
"We'll take a look. It better be. One more night in the great outdoors might actually kill me." She taps the back tire with her foot.
"Hey, what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger." He makes his way to the front of the van.
"Well haven't killed you...yet. And you're still pretty pathetic."
"Hey, shut up." Jacob retorts. He lifts the hood. Jacob stares at the engine and inner workings of the van, not knowing what their purpose was for. An idea hatched in his head. Kaitlyn knew car stuff. Before summer she had been working on a project with her brother Kevin and him. Jacob had just zoned out. Maybe should have payed attention for once.
"Uh, ok, so, um...total hypothetical. If I was a huge asshole and I wanted to break down the van so we'd have to spend another night here, uh, what exactly would I need to do?"
"Well, you'd probably break the fuel line, or I dunno rip out the rotor arm. And yes, that would make you a total asshole."
"Ok, and what does a rotor arm look like again?" Really should have paid attention.
"It's like an arm that's all rotary, you know it's under the black dome thing with the leads poking out. Jake, you do realize that even if we somehow did get stick out here, one more night with Emma wouldn't make a difference. Chick's made up her mind."
"Yeah. Sure." Looking between his choices, he goes for the rotor arm. Easier to fix. "you're coming with me little buddy. I will put you right back tomorrow. No harm, no foul."
After Mr Hackett handed them back the phones, Nick said, to Dylan, "I hope you washed your hands, dude. Unless that wasn't all you were doing in there."
"I 'm so fuckin high as a kite right now."
"Hey, why you didn't offer me some?"
"It was my last baggy. And I wouldn't have offered you some even if it wasn't my last one."
"I hope Mr H didn't notice. Man, you reek."
"No. He's got that stick too far up his ass. Don't tell Ryan I said that."
"Hey, I have an idea."
"What?"
"About how you can make it up to me. And I'll make it up to you about the whole Jacob thing."
"I'm listening."
Car Park -Jacob
"Hey, up here my dudes. " Dylan's voice call's from behind them on the lodge balcony.
Jacob and Kaitlyn look up to see Nick and Dylan, grinning like two dumb idiots.
"Why does it look like they're up to something?' Kaitlyn asks.
"Hey Jacob." Nick calls out, lifting up his arm, ready to throw the phone he held in his hand.
"What?" Jacob realizes it's his phone. "No, dude. please...Don't..."
"Go long."
"Nick!" Jacob catches it. "Boom! Oh, there it is." His dad would have killed him. That phone had been purchased by company funds, among other things he shouldn't had. Also why not show off?
"Ooh, I wish I had some singles." Dylan pretended to slide ones to him from his palm.
"I'm surrounded by freaks." Kaitlyn didn't understand why those two didn't get along. They were not so different apart from their backgrounds. She didn't even know Dylan's background but she could tell he didn't come from a wealthy family like her, Emma and Jacob, (while Nick and Ryan's were pretty much well off) neither did Abi. Most of their parents were either doctors or lawyers or worked in big company firms. (Nick and Jacob's fathers) While Dylan's, well she knew at least his mother was a nurse or something. No mention of a father, but it wasn't really her business. The whole purpose of camp was to forget their personal lives and not ask too many personal questions.
Dylan the stoner kid who seemed shy and awkward at first, (his sister who had come to camp with him was just as much so but quiet instead of loud. Kaylee and Caleb Hackett were definitely much weirder though) but made far too many inappropriate jokes. Between that and Ryan's ghost stories, they were scolded more than once by Mr H, but the kids had dirty minds of their own anyways.
Dylan handed her phone to her.
"Oh thank God. I mean I get the whole no technology thing but take me back world!"
"You would've thought Mr H could have like charged up our phones a bit." Jacob asked.
"Nothing's ever your fault is it" Kaitlyn asked. One of Jacob's toxic traits. When he was not being anal about everything having it's place like he had OCD or something.
"You know, you should really just save it for emergencies only." Dylan said. "Unless of course being dumped is an emergency?"
"Back off, dipshit." Jacob snapped.
"I'm sorry, I..." He put up his hands defensively. "Peace and love man. I...I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." He didn't mean for it to come out the way it did. He didn't want a fight and pretty much wanted to keep his face. Jacob had told him once that he had a punchable face in a not so 'threatening' way. He had also overheard Jacob ask Nick why he was friends with him.
"I don't know. Dylan's, Dylan." Had been Nick's response.
"Ya'll ready to bounce?" Kaitlyn was half past ready to be out of here.
"Where's everybody else?" Nick asked Jacob.
"Why, why would I know that?"
"I don't know." Nick shrugged. "Sometimes you know stuff I don't."
"Look, I don't even know how to respond to that."
"You say, Nick you're way smarter than me and you're a super hot stud who gets any chick he wants."
"Ok, yeah. Keep dreaming junior."
Cabin 10 -Abi
She was drawing the last few details down in her notebook when Emma approached the cabin steps, where she was sitting. She didn't want to forget her best friend. Since they were banned from phones. Hence no selfie taking. No picture to remember her by.
"Let's go collect our bags and away from this mosquito infested backwoods dump." Emma climbed the stairs to the cabin door. Away from Jacob, and finally home. If she had to spend one more minute with him...
"Door's locked. Bags inside."
Emma let go of the door handle, bending over she gave a frustrated sigh. "Fuck me."
"Yep."
"Well, it's obvious what we have to do here."
"Find someone with a key?"
"Shape our destiny. And by shape our destiny I mean shape our way through this crappy lock and grab our bags."
Abi hesitated for a moment. "Ok, let's do it. We'd better not get in trouble." Maybe Emma was a bad influence on her. Her family would so love that. They after all encouraged her to make friends at camp. So that's what she did. Still she had reservations.
"I won't tell if you won't tell."
"Mr. Hackett's gonna find out."
"So what? He'll just think it was a bear or something?"
"Have you ever seen a bear in these woods?"
"No but that doesn't mean they're not out there."
"Fair point."
"Alright. Let's do this. On three. One! Two! Three!" With one hard push the door opens and they fall to the floor, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"All about the power of positive thinking." Emma stands up, grabbing the bags in the corner to her right.
Abi still on her knees. "Why do I always listen to you?
"
"Because I'm always right?"
Abi brushes her tights and stands up "Are you sure they're gonna think it was a bear?"
"Oh, relax. It's not like we killed someone."
"Alright. Well, I'm just gonna take another look around, make sure we didn't miss anything." Abi calls after Emma as she leaves the cabin.
"Go nuts"
On the shelf next to where Emma had picked up the bags was a stuffed bunny.
Abi recognized it immediately. "Aw, this was little Izzy's." She pulls the cord on the back.
The slightly garbled words, "I want to play a game." Came from it's voice box, worn from overuse. She could give it to Dylan to give to back to his sister but she felt she should be the one to personally give it back to her. Poor thing was like a frightened doe and clung to her stuffed fury friend all summer, as if it were an extra limb.
Izzy really shined in Abi's art class, She was able to part with it albeit for a few hours, and came out of her shell.
"Let's get you right back to Izzy."
She put it into her backpack purse, that was shaped like a bat. She checked the drawers next to the beds. On the floor she saw a half torn newspaper.
"Why would this place be in the news?"
FREAK SHOW GOES UP IN FLAMES
She placed it back where she had found it.
She gave one last look at the beds. "I can't believe I'm going to miss all those lumpy loose springs." She headed out the door. She went to get one last view of the radio hut. She was going to miss Dylan's morning announcements. She was not going to lie, he made it worth waking up in the morning, and camp so much more fun and enjoyable. He was also friends with Nick.
A raven was pecking at the meter box next to the door outside the radio hut.
"You stop that." She shooed it away. She wasn't superstitious, but Dylan would not appreciate his hard work of getting it up and running go to waste. Everyone had their favorite place at camp Jacob's was the pool, Emma's was the Island, Ryan's was the lake, Nick liked walking the trails, Kaitlyn's was the shooting range.
Hers, like Dylan's, was the radio hut, well, second best. The shady glade trail was her first. She was going to miss this place, not just her friends.
She heads over to Emma across the foot bridge, who is waiting for her next to a golf cart.
"Ready to roll?"
"Let's do it." Abi cheerfully agrees.
"Finally!"
Abi climbs in behind the wheel.
"Time to let loose and vamoose this caboose."
"How are you so..."
"Dramatic?" Emma finishes for her.
"Annoying." Emma gives her a look. "Confident."
"Eh, it's just acting. It's what the people want."
"So you're faking it?"
"I mean, in a way, faking it, is just being yourself but louder. You should try it sometime. You never know who you could impress."
"Nah, it's too late now, anyway." Summer camp was over. They would all probably never see each other again.
"You should totally hit him up."
"I have his email. It was in the information packet."
Emma made a disgusted sound and a face to go with it. She was very expressive. So were her lips. They seemed a little too exagerated when she talked. The girls at school were jealous and had tried to spread rumors that she used lips fillers. But no. That was her natural beauty.
"What's wrong with email?"
"Are you 93? Oh." She tapped Abi's arm. "Turn here." She pointed to her right with an outstretched arm.
"But the lodge is that way."
"Go here."
"Why?"
"C'mon. Scenic route. One last victory lap around the camp."
Abi decided to go in the direction toward the lodge.
"Boo." She wasn't really booing Abi. She wanted more time to avoid Jacob as much as possible.
Car Park -Dylan
"Don't worry, Jacob. I still got a full tank of gas...oh shit." His phone had only one bar left. The screen flickered and shut off. Dead.
"Ha. Ha. Idiot." Jacob laughed in his ear, hovering over his shoulder.
Ok, he deserved that. He was not going to lie.
Emma and Abi arrive with their bags in-toe.
"Hey Nick." Abi greets him cheerfully.
"Hey. Where were you guys?" Nick asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emma says playfully. Abi pulls on her arm.
"Ignore her, please."
"Let's gooo." Kaitlyn says anxiously.
"Just gotta get these bags up onto the..." Emma struggles to lift the heavy bag.
"Oh here, let me um, let me get that for you." Jacob moves to take one of the bags in front of her.
She stops him. "I can take care of my own bag, thank you.
"Wha...are you sure? Cause I mean it's really not much of a deal...
"She can take care of her own back, thank you." Abi chimes in.
"We both can take care of our own bag, thank you." Emma throws hers into the back of the van.
As Abi struggles with hers, Dylan nudges Nick. Playing Dylan the match maker. It takes a second for Nick to get the hint. He feels all giddy when he does. Part one of mission accomplished. Though I've been trying all summer.
"Oh, uh, Abi do you need..."
"Yeah." She hands him her bag. "Thank you." She can't hide her own giddiness and moves up and down on the balls of her feet.
Looking around to see if everyone was there, Kaitlyn noticed someone was missing. "Hey, has anyone seen Ryan?"
"Oh yeah. He's probably off being all brooding and mysterious and alluring somewhere." Dylan knew his comment would annoy her. They haven't left yet so, competition was with standing.
"I'm here." Ryan walks out from under the lodge. The high stilts giving enough walking room. There was also a door that lead to a storm shelter. I was listening to a podcast, actually."
"Oh, podcast, nice. That's cool." Dylan was genuinely interested in what Ryan was in to. "what's it about? Is it about me?" He asked playfully.
"You think I was listening to a podcast...about you?"
"Ok, if anyone here had a podcast about them, it'd be me." The most interesting person here, Kaitlyn thought.
"Yeah, if there was a podcast called "How to look and smell like a butt." Dylan joked.
"You are so childish." And also was he high right now?
"At least I don't look and smell like a butt." Yep. Probably.
This elicits a laugh from Ryan. "No, it's, it's a paranormal podcast. This episode it actually about this place weirdly enough. The Hag of Hackett's Quarry."
"What's the Hag of Hackett's Quarry?"
"You don't know about the Hag of Hackett's Quarry?" Dylan asks.
"Uh, if I did would I be asking, dumbass?"
"Tell her about the Hag of Hackett's Quarry!"
"I don't think she wants to know about the Hag of Hackett's Quarry."
"Can we just please stop saying, The Hag of Hackett's Quarry?" They were both annoying her now.
"It's just this campfire story for the kids. It's um... there's supposedly an old woman who died in a fire a few years back. She haunts the woods looking for her lost baby boy. There ar like reports of whispers or whatever and this figure that floats around, you know textbook ghost stuff. Some people say if she catches you alone, she'll try to turn you into her son, or kill you or something, I dunno. It's never really been clear. Anyways. Hag of Hackett's Quarry."
"You just made that up." Kaitlyn says in disbelief
"It's right here in the podcast, man."
"What's the hold up, Hacketters?" They all turn to see Mr H. Their camp leader standing on the balcony of the lodge.
"Hey, yeah, uh nearly done, Mr. H." Jacob calls up to him.
"Hop to it. Get those butts in gear."
"Sorry, Mr H. We had to liberate some luggage." Emma calls barley above a whisper.
"Emma. Shut up!" Abi shushes her.
"Maybe if someone didn't spend so much time trying to impress the ladies with all his ghost stories."
"You asked." Ryan
"Ghost stories?"
"The Hag of Hackett's Quarry." Dylan clarifies.
Kaitlyn gives a groan of frustration. "Hey do you still have the van key, Mr H?"
"Why, yes, I do." He checks his pockets but they aren't there.
"You know, I'd lose my head if it wasn't stuck on. Back to the lodge I go. Give me a hand, would you Ryan?"
"Oh, okay."
"Yo, Mr H."
"What's up Dj Dylan?"
"Any chance I can get a little charge? I wanna have some tunes for the road."
"Sorry, no can do." The old outlets could take forever to charge. Another thing to add to the ever growing list of expenses.
"Come on, that's like super unchill man."
"Hey, I'm like the chillest flippin bro in the world, man." Chris mimicked his stoned tone. He could smell that the kid was high. Blame it on his sensitive sense of smell. When he had caught Dylan with it once, he had said "it's for my anxiety. Which Chris knew was BS because any list of medications was listed on the counselors private information. Medicinal marijuana wasn't on the list. Only Dylan's anti anxiety meds, and an epi pen for his peanut allergy were (they also had an extra one in the nurses station for usual protocol) Jacob Custos was on medication for ADHD Abigail Blyg, had an inhaler (she hadn't need for it in recent years but still had one on hand just to be on the safe side) and there was Emma Mountebank with her anti-depressants. Of course Chris kept and made sure that stuff was kept private and was for his knowledge and Diana's, the nurse's only.
"Just don't do it around the kids." Had been their agreement.
Chris knew that Dylan was troubled, but thought he deserved a second chance. They all did. Camp was all about second chances. But camp was over. It wasn't his job to babysit anymore. But apparently it was. He thought they'd be in a hurry and relieved to be out of here. He couldn't get them to budge.
"I just need some tunes for the ride, man."
"Alright, that's enough." He didn't have any more time.
"Five minutes. Like five minutes, that's all I need, man."
"He said no, Dylan." Ryan said, growing impatient.
"Okay, yeah, I know, but I was just..." He walks away.
"Meet'cha at the van, okay? I could let you share my earbuds."
That put Dylan in a better mood.
Chris Hackett's Office -Ryan
He hadn't had a chance to talk to Chris about what he should do with school. Mr H had become like a mentor for him over the years.
He'd never seen Mr H in such a rush. Even when Chris received a phone call, well that could be a valid excuse to shoo him from the office. While waiting outside in the hall he couldn't help but eavesdrop, something he wouldn't normally do.
"Cause kids are kids. I can only do so much or they'll... they're almost out of here, alright? Just hold your darn horses. Everything's A-okay on this end. This is a wast on time. You know it, I know it. No should I have. Probably staying out of the way. Speaking of which the longer you keep me on this damn phone, the longer it's gonna take me to get rid of these damn kids. Yeah, of course. Adios."
Despite hearing Chris's footsteps. Ryan doesn't move away from the door. Too preoccupied in his own thoughts. Why would Chris be in such a hurry for them to leave?
"Sorry, I wasn't, uh, I wasn't listening. I was just, like...waiting. Like I mean I heard, I mean I didn't hear what you were..."
"We're cool champ. Just come on in. Sorry I pushed you out like that. You were saying."
"About the whole thing with animation school, I'd have to live on campus and I don't know if i should leave my sister alone with our grandparents. Our mom isn't exactly around much, and our family is small as it is."
"Well family is important, Ryan." At least that was what his family used to be like. Before his whole world went to hell. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of his families dumb decisions.
"Is everything ok? You got a hot date tonight?"
"Oh boy, if you only knew."
"So uh what did you need me for?"
"You're one of my favorite counselors, Ryan, you know that? One of the good ones." He would have picked Dylan if he took things much more seriously. His second favorite was Abigail. She had a real way with the kids during art class. She got them to open up. She had ambition like Ryan, was very responsible and reliable. And wanted to become an art therapist. if that was a thing. Even they had their faults.
Abi could be too shy to speak out about something, when the kids were drawing pictures of the ghost from Ryan's ghost stories and Ryan sometimes impulsive, when it came to those ghost stories. If he had a dollar to never hear about the hag of Hackett's Quarry again, he'd have enough money to update the lodge, fix the damn chimney column, and the radio hut Dylan had always been bugging him to upgrade.
Scared kids being sent home was not helping the situation. His flaw was being far to modest when he was stuck in a rut.
"But do you know how many calls I get from parents? Letter after letter of these terrified kids, that they send home?"
"Huh, I didn't realize that."
"Believe it or not, scaring kids away from sleep-away camp is kinda bad for business. So, maybe just ease up on the ghost stories?"
"Sorry, I didn't realize it was such a big deal."
"Gotta understand the repercussions of your actions, buster. That's a big part of being a counselor, a leader. Just stick to Kumbaya next time, ok?" He's acting all anxious and pacing again.
"Seriously, Chris. What's going on?" He'd never seen him like this before. In a hurry. He was always cool, calm and collected. He seemed very distracted. The complete opposite.
"I just want to get you guys safely outta dodge before the sun goes down."
"Why?"
"It's getting dark Ryan. And it's not safe to drive in the dark. And safety is the first step towards fun. Just give me a minute. Where in the damn hell are they?"
Ryan goes over to the front of the desk, picking up a picture frame with a photo of Chris, Kaylee, and Caleb.
"Will you say goodbye to Caleb and Kaylee for me? They sort of just snuck off."
"Ah, you'll see 'em again next year. Caleb works at the scrapyard during off season and Kaylee, well she's still figuring out what she wants to do. She's got her whole life ahead of her. They both just come and go as they please, really. Teenagers, am I right?" Caleb was 16 and Kaylee, 19. Between the seven counselors and his own kids, they had been a handful. And hard to keep track of. Caleb and Kaylee were at that rebellious stage. Maybe they always were. And when Kaylee got an idea in her head Caleb always went along with it. It had already gotten them into a whole world of trouble. And his family were paying the price for it.
He didn't have time to waste, to figure out what his kids were up to and at the same time hurry to find a way to get these kids going and gone. He wouldn't have time to right their wrongs and find out what Kaylee and Caleb were planning.
"Actually could of used the help packing up since we were short staffed."
"Hey, you guys seemed to manage alright. But I'll tell them both you were sad you missed 'em. Unlocked the van, put the keys in my pocket, came in the office..." He looks in front of him at the mug on his desk and pulls out a set of keys. "Right where I left 'em."
"Aha!"
"Let's skedaddle." They leave the lodge. "Make sure they're all ready to go. For real this time."
"Wait, how did you get your phone back before the rest of us." Dylan asks, seeing Ryan holding his phone.
"Because I never turned it in."
"You should have turned it off before you handed it in Dylan. Them's the rules, you noob." Chris hands Jacob the keys.
"I try to not dwell on the past man."
"Good, cause it's time to dwell on the minivan and get on with our respective lives."
Jacob starts the van but the engine won't catch. It stalls.
After a few more tries, Chris looks underneath the hood. He can't find out what's wrong with it. He has no time to fix it. Getting a mechanic out here could take hours. Hours he didn't have.
"Look, it's not that big of a deal, okay? We'll just spend one more night here. " Jacob offers.
"No. NO. Just stop. Let me think." He paces, then slams the hood down. Yelling in frustration. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
"Ok. Damn it. You're right. You're right. Yeah. You're right."
"What?" Ryan had never seen him this worried or freaked out before. Or angry, if ever. Mr. H had always been so level headed and in charge.
He takes the set of keys off his belt and tosses them to Ryan, walking over to his Ford Bronco.
"Hey, Ryan. Come here for a sec." He gets into his car. "Make sure that everybody is inside the lodge for tonight. Lock the doors. No one in, no one out. No one. Got it?"
"Okay?"
" I'll be back first thing in the morning and we'll get you all on the road. You just have to keep everyone inside. Can you promise me you'll do that?"
"Yeah...sure. We'll stay inside."
"Atta boy. Lock the doors." He starts backing out of the lot. "And for God's sake, keep the noise down." He drives away through the open gate.
"So, what was that about?" Dylan asked. Mr H looked pretty freaked.
"He uh, said to stay inside. That we're not leaving until the morning."
"Are you kidding me?" Emma couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you kidding me? What are we supposed to do?"
"Well, we should do inside. Like he said."
"We could go inside, until morning." Dylan sounded like he was making a suggestion. Ryan didn't like where Dylan was going with this. "Or, we could do something else."
"What are you talking about?" He really didn't like where this was going.
"PART-Why the fuck not? No Mr H. No screaming kids. Just a group of responsible adults getting down with their animal side. It seems like the stars have aligned for us? No? One last epic bonfire blowout for all time."
"Oh, dude. Fuck yes. I'm in." Jacob was instantly in. Maybe a few beers, everyone chilled and relax, he could finally make his move with Emma. Maybe a little skinny dipping in the cards. Of course he couldn't do it all without his wing man. "Nick, you're in."
"Yeah, I'm in."
"Dylan's in. Obviously. My man." of course he suddenly was. The cool blase Dylan, finally getting through to captain meathead.
"Kaitlyn?"
"I go where my people need me."
"Yeah. Ok, Em, what do you say?"
"Mmmm. Yeah, I'm in." Might as well since they were going to be stuck here.
It came around for Abi's turn to answer.
"Mr Hackett seemed pretty insistent we stay in the lodge. "
Just what we need. Ryan 2.0 over here, Jacob thought. "He was just trying to freak us out. You know, like um...Like one of Ryan's stupid ghost stories."
"Why would he want to scare us?" Abi asked.
"I don't think he was trying to freak us out, Jacob." Ryan voiced his concern. "I think he was really freaked out by something. Chris seemed real serious about this guys."
"Just say you're in, man." Dylan pleaded. "Come on. One last night. Dude, he won't even know." He didn't even noticed that I'm stoned.
"Yeah, but I promised..."
"Dude, it's all good. Alright, we get it, you know. You uh, you don't wanna disappoint daddy." Jacob air quotes.
Dylan detected a bit of jealousy in Jacob's voice. Daddy issues for sure.
"Whatever, man." Ryan said, resigned.
"Don't worry. It's gonna be chill." But the reassurance from Dylan wasn't really reassuring.
While Emma and Jacob went the the general store to gather party supplies, Dylan was in charge of phone duty. Ryan offered to go with him.